Detecting Opinion Leaders and Trends in Online Social Networks

Abstract

Today, online social networks in the World Wide Web become increasingly interactive and networked. Web 2.0 technologies provide a multitude of platforms, such as blogs, wikis, and forums where, for example, consumers can disseminate data about products and manufacturers. This data provides an abundance of information on personal experiences and opinions, which are extremely relevant for companies and sales organizations. A new approach based on text mining and social network analysis is presented, which allows detecting opinion leaders and opinion trends. This allows getting a better understanding of the opinion formation. The overall concept is presented and illustrated by an example.